Diamonds And Dust: 27 - Dealing With Disabilities
The guys working at a Namibian diamond mind sometimes displayed a cruel sense of humour as Malcolm Bertoni reveals.
To read earlier chapters of Malcolm’s vivid experiences please click on http://www.openwriting.com/archives/diamonds_and_dust/
To obtain a copy of his book click on http://www.equilibriumbooks.com/diamonds.htm
We had a foreman called Dick on No 4 plant. He was an old guy – at least 50 or so – but was actually a nice guy, who treated us fairly and never gave us a hard time.
He had a back and neck problem. He couldn’t turn his neck and he couldn’t look up. So to look to his left or right he would have to actually turn that way. To look up he had to bend his knees and sort of lean backwards. It looked very awkward, and how he didn’t fall over I’ll never know.
But being young and full of crap we gave poor Dick a hard time. We used to call him from the next level in the plant, and there was poor old Dick trying to lean back and turn in circles trying to see who the hell was calling him. Due to the noise of the plant it was difficult to pinpoint where the calls were coming from, and Dick used to scrabble around in circles trying to see what was going on. We would do this three or four times and then feel really bad about it and stop. Until the next week when we would do it all again. We were terrible, I know.
The Disabled Driver
I never met the guy but was told about him by a friend. This guy often had seizures while driving. I don’t know how he got his licence or how he was allowed to drive in the mining area or anywhere on the planet. Evidently everyone knew who he was and gave him a very wide berth.
He would be driving along, and when a seizure came on he would disappear as his seizure caused him to twist downwards towards his left, with the result that he ended up with his face on the passenger’s seat. It would have been interesting if there had been a passenger in that seat, especially a female one.
So there would be this car driving along and for all intents and purposes there would be no-one driving. Any oncoming cars would see this car with no-one at the wheel.
It was also most disconcerting to see a car approaching and the driver disappearing behind the dash and the car then careering haphazardly all over the road.
But everyone knew his car and said, “Ahh, I see old X is having a seizure again.”
It was all seen as an everyday event and there were no dramas about it. It was sort of the normal thing. How he didn’t get himself or some else killed or have a prang every day I could never figure out.
